twistednoble

Picked up a 893 shock and fitted it. Required some wiggling to get it in but it fit like it was meant to be. This particular specimen came off a CBR1100XX and has a 1000# Eibach spring on it, and has been into some point going off the schrader valve on the reservoir. Got a deal on it for for the low cost of $80 including the CBRXX linkage and mount. No parts compatibility there beyond the upper shackle unfortunately, so I'll see if I can't resell the excess parts to someone who can get some use out of it. The reservoir hose isn't the longest but you can run it to the LH side and tie it to the subframe. I've got it cable-tied in place for now, a proper mounting solution will be figured out soon. First impressions, it definitely jacks up the rear. I'm up on my feet now compared to how easily flat footed I was previously. I incorrectly set the preload and gave it far too much and now I have to figure out how I twist the adjuster without removing the shock. I was using a pipe wrench and a C-clamp to get it adjusted on the bench. Damping is much improved compared to the monoshock excepting a little harshness from the excess preload. Now the expansion grooves and undulations in the road are whispered through the pegs instead of no feedback until it hits the bottom of the stroke and boots me in the ass like it used to.

New avenue to report. The cbr900rr(893) shock appears like it will function. It has a remote reservoir and is adjustable for compression and rebound. Its also 318mm in length so almost spot on for the VFR.

Interesting, RT spec'd a 1300 lb spring for me too and I'm heavier than you. You are correct, shim stacks are highly coveted and no suspension tuner would ever reveal their secret sauce. Thankfully from what I've read the OE showa uses a straight stack. Shouldn't be too difficult to make a pyramid stack that provides some level of improvement. The best you know is only the best you've ridden. So long as I don't taste the $600 sauce I don't know what I'll be missing.

Thank you for pointing that out. I stumbled across Jamie talking about how he de-gasses and re-gasses montoubes on the superhawk forum. Might be interesting but I think I could do it; I have the know-how to try it, and I'm just dumb enough to consider doing it. I'll do some thinking. A F4(i) shock would probably be easier to rebuild but would leave me needing a spring if the VFR spring isn't usable for it (which I don't believe it is). Does anyone have a chart for spring rates per rider weight? I'm hesitant to trust racetech's calculator coming from my experience in the dirt world (they spec overly stiff springs like I'm gonna be doing supercross on a DRZ or DR).

Thanks for the reply. I'm pulling for a super budget option at the moment which is why the ebay special BB shock is in the running. If I had the money I'd ship the stock shock off to Jamie and have him fix it up for me. Unfortunately the VFR is pulling commuting duty so extended downtime while the shock is getting worked on for a week or two isn't in the cards. It looks like the YSS is in about the same price bracket too. Maybe I'll get a BB shock and set it in the vice and see what the stack looks like. At least then I can swap back and forth between the two and still be able to ride to work on Monday. If it's really underwhelming it'll still give me time to refresh the stock shock. Hopefully if it's cleaned up and given an oil change it'll match the front fork's drastic improvement.

Can anyone speak to the blackbird shock's damping when it's installed a VFR? I've got my eye on one currently. I've got 34k miles on all stock components. I had to fix a leaking fork seal last weekend and now with new bushings and 10w oil the front end is drastically improved from where it was. The front end eats up undulations and expander gaps. This had the side effect of making the 34k mile worn shock feel like junk. The front end will float over the bump and then then the rear wheel will go over the same bump and feel like someone kicked me square in the buttocks through the seat.